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RE Philadelphia emergency text messaging system [Telecom]

As I have noted in previous posts on TD, cable TV > systems carry Emergency Alert messages on all channels.

snipped-for-privacy@bbs.cpcn.com responded:

Not on my cable system, they don't. > > They never hesitate to interupt something for a local ad > for a used car dealer, but anything else, nope.

Then I would conclude that one of the following situations exists:

[1] You live in a small community served by a small franchised cable TV system. Franchised cable TV systems serving fewer than 1000 subscribers are exempt from the EAS rules. [2] You live in a community served by a non-franchised "private cable system." Private cable systems often exist in large non-municipal communities such as apartment or condo complexes, certain MUDs (those that own the land under the streets), Indian reservations, mobile home parks, RV parks, hospitals, hospice facilities, college and university campuses, theme parks, casino complexes, and government reservations (military, correctional, parks, forests, wildlife refuges). Private cable systems are exempt from the EAS rules. [3] You have never been watching a non-broadcast cable TV channel when a relevant EAS alert was issued for your geographic area. Your cable TV system would be required to insert an EAS alert:

(a) Only if an appropriate governmental agency determines that the alert is applicable to your specific geographic area (typically 1/9th of a county).

(b) Only on non-broadcast channels. Broadcast stations typically insert their own EAS alerts, and usually don't want cable TV systems to duplicate their alerts. [4] Your cable TV operator is violating federal law.

Neal McLain

Reply to
Neal McLain
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I don't understand. If something is urgent, why it broadcasters put it out but not cable stations?

Probably. It's a huge company. They do what they want.

Reply to
hancock4

It's too much of an esoteric concept. If the broadcast station inserts the announcement in their signal _before_ it gets to the cable company, having the cable company insert a "similar" announcement has the potential for adding confusion. Example: the cable streamer covers up 70% of the height of the broadcast streamer -- you can't read what the broadcast station announcement was saying -- which had a real news update more recent than the EAS announcement info. Nor the 'Stay tuned to _us_ for more info'.

The broadcast stations _don't_want_ the cable station to interfere with the EAS info they're _already_ putting out. _No_ benefit to the viewers under any possible circumstances, =and= a possible *disadvantage* to doing so.

Reply to
Robert Bonomi

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